Deciding on what courses to follow when there is a need, or an imperative, to upskill, is no easy and evident matter. Should you deepen your skills in applications you already know to some extent? Or should you acquire skills in other applications? Or should you move outside of the digital skills domain (or ecosystem) into a different domain, e.g. from “sector user digital skills” into the space of ICT practitioner skills?
In order to be in a position to make an informed and well-considered choice in your digital skills upskilling journey, it is useful (i) to make use of a unified digital skills framework that sets out the various digital skills domains in their relationship to each other, and (ii) to understand where you currently are regarding the nature and level of your digital skills on such a framework, as well as which pathways lead from that point to where you want to be.
Digital Skills Framework One (DSFOne) incorporates in one unified digital skills framework: digital literacy; the conceptual space for its use in various sectors and at various levels; ICT practitioner skills; digital leadership skills; and the skills linked to emerging technologies.
DSFOne, together with an overview of its various components, are contained in a recent report about a process of wide consultation and validation discussions on the framework. It can be downloaded from https://www.wcapecolab.org/dsfone. The report and framework are available under a digital commons licence and are therefore free to use.
Using a unified digital skills framework, brings some order and structure to the seemingly innumerable uses and contexts of digital devices and applications. This structure, in turn, provides the pointers to identify pathways towards the forms of upskilling that are most appropriate.
